Abe

"They didn't find her, did they?" Eric asked as he sat in the chair.

"No." I run a hand through my hair.

"Abe - It's been seventeen years-"

"She wouldn't have just left, Eric. You know her."

Seventeen years ago, the l've of my life up and left, without a goodbye, without an explanation. She just up and left and I've been trying to find her for years. I knew it was going to be hard – Janine could stay hidden if she wanted to. I just hoped after seventeen years she would have slipped up and I would have found her. I just wanted to know what happened – what went so wrong she had to leave?

I eventually sat in my chair behind my desk in my study while Eric looked at me. Pity. He's been my business partner and friend for as long as I could remember. He and Rheas were both there for me when Janine left, both there during my worst times. I owed them everything I had.

"Sir - there was a break in." Mark came through the door without knocking. "We have her in the foyer-"

"She?" I questioned as I stood and followed Mark to where a young girl was sitting quietly on a chair. She was young, around the same age as Eric's daughter. She was very small, dark brown hair and she looked scared. Her eyes were large as she looked around and then down. I told them to let her go, there was no point in calling the police. She was a child. Yes, I was curious as to who she was, how she got in but my mind was not in the right place.

Eric and I talked business expansions, strategy when it started to rain. There was a knock on my office door and after allowing entrance, in walked Eric's daughter. She smiled as she entered and gave her father a hug before clearing her throat.

"I bumped into a girl today and she dropped a book. This fell out of it." She handed me a picture as I turned it over. It was an old picture of myself, taken many years before. I looked up from it and allowed Eric to take it from my hands as he was interested in what his daughter had handed me.

"That's strange." Eric said, his forehead creasing as he tried to make sense of what this could mean.

"Yeah, she was my age too. She dropped it at the mall." That was interesting.

"What did she look like?" I asked leaning back into my chair.

"She was short, dark hair but I didn't get a good look." She replied. "Is she a bad person?" Eric shook his head and gave his daughter a hug.

"Abe, I think you're over thinking this." He said. "Come on, we better get home before mom had kittens if we're not home for dinner." We said out goodbyes, but I don't think I was over thinking. What if she was the one that had my picture? It all seemed a little bizarre, but I needed to know. I called Mark into my office.

"That girl, did she drop anything?" He nodded.

"Her bag, I can go get it for you. We were going to throw it away." I thanked him as he left to get me the bag. Olena brought me in some dinner before she left to go home for the evening. Mark brought me the bag before leaving too. I finished my food, answered some more emails before I opened the bag.

I pulled out some clothes, about two hundred dollars, a phone and a book. For years I have been surrounded by death threats, people want to kill me, my family, my friends. After I made sure the bag was empty, I put the clothes and money back in, only keeping out the phone and book. Of course, the phone was locked so I went to look inside the book.

September 2002

I had to leave. He can never find out. I went to abortion clinics all over, none would get rid of the baby, saying I was too far alone. Instead, they handed me broachers for adoptions. Abe can never know about this baby.

I flipped further into the book.

March 2003

She was born on the 21st of March. I decided to name her after his grandmother – Rosemarie. He'll never know about her and I plan to keep it that way. It would have been simpler if I could have gotten rid of her.

That was the last entry. I closed the book and called for Mark as I grabbed my coat, walking towards the door when Mark made his way to my office.

"Pull up the CCTV footage and try get a still frame of that girl." He nodded his head as he walked off to do as I asked. I called for more of my guards as I opened my front door and asked for my car. It was still raining outside when the car came around. Mark handed some photos in my hands as I got into the car.

"What's going on, Boss?"

"I don't know but we need to find that girl." I reply.

We checked nearby hotels, asked people if they had seen her but no one had. We searched for an hour, the rain still pouring until we circled back to the park. We walked around, searching, trying to find this girl. I was about to give up – about to call it a night. She would have gone home, would have left. There was no reason why she would be here. That was until Mikhil yelled out, calling for me to go to him.

She lay there, pale. She looked as if she was asleep, her lips blue, her teeth chattering, dried tears on her cheeks. I cursed, picked her up carefully and brought her back to the car, ordering Mark to drive us to the hospital.

They took her from me, rushed her into the back, ordering me to stay where I was. I went into the waiting room, Mark and Mikhil waiting. I leaned back in the chair when a doctor walked into the room a while later.

"You brought the girl here?" I nodded. "She's stable now. She has no ID on her so we're finding it difficult to find her parents. We'll call social services when she wakes up." The doctor dismissed me but I took a step closer.

"I think she's my daughter." Mark and Mikhil both looked at each other, shocked at my claim.

"Mr. Mazur-"

"It's complicated but I need to know." The doctor reluctantly agreed, saying as long as the girl agreed then there would be no issue. So, I waited. I sat in the uncomfortable chairs for hours, until a nurse came in, took a swab from me and left. Eric walked into the room not too long after.

"Abe-"

"Don't look at me like that." I replied, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I'm not going crazy."

"Could have fooled me, claiming a random teenage girl who broke into your house you daughter."

"She has a book. It was Janine's handwriting, Eric." I replied. "I just want to know." Eric sighed and sat down next to me. "They took some DNA, I guess she agreed to the test."

"Mikhil said you found her in the park?" I nodded. Rubbing my forehead.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"About four am." Eric responded, getting comfortable in the chair. He didn't have to stay and he knew it. He wanted to stay and support me. It was another hour before the nurse came back in and handed me a sheet of paper.

"It's a match. I guess that means you legally can see her now." Eric took the page from my hands.

"She kept her from me." I said out loud to no one in particular. Eric clapped a hand on my shoulder and helped me to my feet.

"Come on, let's go see if she's okay." Eric and I followed the nurse as she led the way to my daughters' room. She opened the door and allowed us in.

"She's okay. Lucky you found her; it could have been a lot worse." I sat in the chair next to the bed, Eric sat in the other. "She just needs rest." I nodded as the nurse left the room.

"I can't believe she kept her from me."

"I can't either, but Abe, having a daughter isn't easy." I gave him a smile.

"You seem to manage it just fine."

"I've been around her whole life." I looked away. I knew it was true. I haven't been around but it wasn't by choice. I can't believe Janine would hide something like this from me.

Eric and I didn't talk but we both took a short nap in the chairs. We didn't wake up until there was a fast beeping noise somewhere then there was a rush of people coming into the room. My eyes flew open as I saw my daughter sitting up in the bed pulling at the hospital gown. Her arms were purple with bruises. She was struggling to breath, her face turned pale as she tried to take a breath. The beeping kept increasing until a nurse handed her a bowl and she vomited. The nurse swapped the bowls until she calmed down. Her eyes started to close.

"Oh no, not yet sweetie." Said the doctor, pushing me out of the way and taking out a flashlight and checking her pupils. "What's your name?" She swallowed before answering, accepting a glass of water.

"Rose Hathaway." Eric turned to face me and I looked at him. The doctor nodded, saying she would be back in a minute. I turned to the girl; she bowed her head.

"Your mother is Janine?" I asked. She nodded her head. "How is she?" She shrugged her shoulders. Eric gave me a look, telling me not push it. We sat in silience before the doctor came back in, a file I her hands.

"Rose, where did you get all the bruises?"

"I'm clumsy." The doctor looked at Rose for a long minute before nodding.

"And, what just happened there?"

"I have very bad anxiety." She replied. The doctor nodded.

"Rose, you've been admitted-"

"I'm very clumsy." The doctor sighed.

"You can leave as soon as you're ready. Mr. Mazur, can I speak to you?" I nodded and followed the doctor into the hall. Eric said he was going to get some things for Rose to wear so she could leave.

"I'm very worried about her." The doctor said. "I don't think she's clumsy at all." I looked at her confused. "I am aware that you never knew you had a daughter, but do you know anything about her mother?"

"What are you saying?"

"I think Rose was being abused." I looked at the doctor. Janine would never do such a thing. She was caring, loving – she would never lay a hand on her daughter. "Just keep an eye on her, if her anxiety is as bad as she just showed in there, I want you to be there and bring her in if you see any blood in her vomit." I thanked the doctor and signed the release forms.

Eric came back with clothes, probably Lissa's and gave them to Rose. After she changed, Eric and I went our separate ways. I sat next to Rose in the back seat, Mikhil in the front while Mark drove.

"So, how old are you?" I asked. She was siting as far away from me as she can.

"Seventeen." I nodded my head, drumming my fingers in my knee.

"So, you're still in school?" She nodded.

"I'm a senior. They wouldn't allow me skip ahead again."

"So." I said looking around. I could see Mark and Mikhil hiding their smiles in the mirror. "I'm Abe."

"I know." She said. "Are you going to send me back?" I looked at her. She looked scared. I shook my head.

"No, I guess I could keep you around for a while."